Building Stage's 'Dracula' visits story's forgotten depths

September 23, 2008|By Chris Jones, Tribune critic

Throughout almost all the experimental version of "Dracula" at the Building Stage, they don't say a single word, instead treating the whole thing as a kind of creepy graphic novel or silent movie, replete with stylized gestures and little bits of projected text. No problem there. You don't go to "Dracula" for the dialogue. You go for the exposed necks and the intrusive fangs.

But this isn't some bit of early Halloween camp either. Blake Montgomery is a very serious theater artist and his company-developed piece is not only an explication of the sexual and political subtexts of the Bram Stoker novel, but ultimately a deconstruction of some of its implications (to detail the subversions would spoil the surprising end of the show).

In essence, Montgomery strives to remind us that "Dracula,' penned in 1897 and long in the public domain, was about a great deal more than the title character. The novel is about people's perceptions of the man, not the Count himself -- he barely makes a personal appearance until relatively late in the proceedings.

But Stoker's complex narrative and rich stew of colonial themes has been killed off by a million Halloween costumes and toothy grins.

The star of hundreds of movies and plays and the groom to many a questionable bride, "Dracula" is now a timeless super-villain whose bite has consumed everything in its path.

Like most of the work at the Building Stage, one of the few Chicago theaters in the West Loop, this is a consistently interesting and progressive piece. Among its assets is a remarkably sensual sound design from David Amaral that features the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Thanks to surround sound that has the throbbing score coming at you from all directions, it's quite the immersing experience.

Not all elements of the production are as successful. The acting -- from a mostly young cast -- is a very mixed bag with some performers over-emoting, and thus making the show fall into the very traps it is supposed to be fighting. Others (such as Meghan Reardon) naturally embrace the requisite minimalist but precise ambience.

The set design is dominated by curtains, which get drawn and undrawn with such studied repetition, it drives you nuts.

Mostly, though, you just wish this honorable but rather dour show came with a bigger pop. Montgomery's adaptation is a smart and ambitious take on a story that has been subsumed by the bite of its title character. The unmet challenge was to rediscover the narrative core and also satiate those in search of blood.